Hyper-V Host Patching – Cluster Aware Updading vs. Virtual Machine Manager Fabric Patching

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2012 Logo

In the past weeks I was giving a Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V workshop to customers and as we went to the Hyper-V host management I talked about how you can update your Hyper-V infrastructure and how you can automatically update your Hyper-V cluster.

If we do not think about System Center Orchestrator we have basically two solutions to fully upgrade our Hyper-V clusters first is the System Center Virtual Machine Manager Fabric Patching which is available since System Center 2012. The second one is a new one called Cluster Aware Updating which is included in Windows Server 2012.

Both solutions do basically the same thing and using the same concept:

Scanning the Hyper-V host for updates
Putting the first node in maintenance mode and pause the node in the cluster
Moving all virtual machines to other nodes of the cluster
Installing the patches
rebooting the server
checking if all services are up again
stop the maintenance mode
start doing the same with the next node

This is basically what both solutions are doing, but there are small differences between them and both have advantages and disadvantages.

Cluster Aware Updating (CAU)

Moving not only virtual machines to other nodes, it does also move other cluster roles and cluster disks to other nodes
Cluster Aware Updating can use different update sources (Windows Update, Microsoft Update, WSUS, SCCM,…)
You can apply hotfixes via CAU
Cluster Aware Updating has APIs for third party vendors
You can do driver or firmware updates via CAU
You can schedule it via Self-Updating mode
Run pre- and post-scripts
Update Approval process over WSUS or SCCM
Only supporting Windows Server 2012
Coordination via cluster role

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Does only move virtual machines to other nodes
Needs a WSUS server where the updates come from
Only updates which can be installed via WSUS
Virtualization (Fabric) Administrator will create update baselines and approve updates
Not third-party integration
Log – logs which administrator approved the updates
Integration in System Center Operations Manager, sets host in maintenance mode on SCOM so no alerts are generated.
Role based update management
Supports Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.
Coordination via Virtual Machine Manager

Both solution do a great job and can of course be extended by using Windows PowerShell, System Center Orchestrator or third-party products.

The two main differences are Windows Server 2012 Cluster Aware Updating is definitely the newer solution with extensibility for third-party solutions with support for other cluster roles not just Hyper-V. Where System Center Virtual Machine is the clear winner, is where you have security roles in place and you need logs and other security features. And System Center Virtual Machine Manager has also a connection to System Center Operations Manager which lets you set Hyper-V nodes to maintenance mode.

More information about System Center Universe DACH/Europe in Bern Switzerland

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

SCU2013

Some days ago System Center Universe DACH/Europe was announced and finally we got more information on the event it self.

Finally the event will be a two day event on September 16th/17th 2013 in Bern Switzerland. There will be sessions in 4 parallel tracks, 2 Keynotes (day 1 and day 2) and approx. 36 Breakout sessions with a lot of System Center and Windows Server specialist, Microsoft MVPs and Microsoft employees as speakers.

Markus Erlacher (CH) General Manager itnetx and former Microsoft Senior Technical Solution Professional http://www.itnetx.ch/ @markuserlacher

Maarten Goet (NL) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://www.opslogix.com/ http://www.inovativ.nl/ @maarten_goet

Thomas Maurer (CH) Microsoft MVP [VIrtual Machine] http://www.itnetx.ch/ http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/ @thomasmaurer

Mike Resseler (BE) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://scug.be/mike/ @mikeresseler

Travis Wright (USA) Principal Program Manager for Windows Server & System Center Microsoft Corp / @radtravis

Marcel Zehner (CH) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://www.itnetx.ch/ http://blog.scsmfaq.ch/ @scsmfaq

Pete Zerger (USA) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] @pzerger

Philipp Witschi (CH) Virtualization and Fabric Management Subject Matter Expert http://www.itnetx.ch/ @philippwitschi

Carsten Rachfahl (D) Microsoft MVP [VIrtual Machine] http://www.hyper-v-server.de/ @hypervserver

Andreas Baumgarten (D) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://startblog.hud.de/ @abaumgarten

Stefan Roth (CH) Cloud Architect, SCOM Subject Matter Expert http://www.itnetx.ch/ http://blog.scomfaq.ch/ @scomfaq.

Stefan Johner (CH) Cloud Engineer, SCSM Subject Matter Expert http://www.itnetx.ch/ http://scsmlab.com/ @scsmlab

Mike Epprecht (CH) Technical Evangelist DPE Microsoft Switzerland @fastflame

Stefan Koell (A) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://code4ward.net/ @stefankoell

Markus Klein (D) Microsoft MVP [System Center Cloud & Datacenter Management] http://www.ms-privatecloud.info/ @markusklein01

Michel Lüscher (CH) Senior Consultant - MCS Switzerland

http://www.server-talk.eu @michelluescher

Thomas Roettinger (D) Program Manager Server and Cloud Division Microsoft Germany @troettinger

If you need more information about System Center Universe Europe check out the System Center Universe website and checkout the blog post from Stefan Roth: System Center Universe DACH/Europe (SCU DACH) – FAQ

System Center Universe DACH/Europe (SCU DACH) announced

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

SCU2013

Have you ever heard of the famous System Center Universe (SCU) hosted by Catapult Systems? If not then it’s about time to visit http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com and check out the excellent content.

After talking to Catapult Systems we decided to bring this great event to Europe. We are now in the planning phase, talking to partners, speakers, sponsors etc. that are interested to partner with us and help making this event coming true. Visit the event web site where we will start publishing more information shortly!

http://www.systemcenteruniverse.ch

How to install System Center 2012 SP1 Update Rollup 2 for VMM

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

System Center Logo

Microsoft last week released the Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 SP1 – Virtual Machine Manager which includes a lot of fixes and improvements. If you want to update you can do this by using the Windows Update scenario or install it manually.

You have to uninstall the Update Rollup 1 for SCVMM (you can find more on the reason on Carmen Summers blog post). Windows Update will not show you the Update Rollup to before you have uninstalled UR1.

If you have downloaded the Update Rollup 2 via the Windows Update Catalog and have installed it manually, it’s recommended that you uninstall UR2 first, after that uninstall UR1 and finally install UR2 on a System Center 2012 SP1 installation without any Update Rollups installed.

After you have installed the Update Rollup 2 for Virtual Machine Manager, make sure you also update the Agents on the Hyper-V hosts.

VMM Agent Versions:

Update Rollup 1: 3.1.6011.0
Update Rollup 2: 3.1.6020.0

Btw. Remember to do this not only for the VMM management server, don’t forget the hosts where the VMM console is installed, like System Center App Controller.

System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager Update Rollup 2 available

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

System Center Logo

Some days ago Microsoft announced the availability of System Center 2012 SP1 – Update Rollup 2, which included fixes for the whole System Center suite expect Virtual Machine Manager. Yesterday Carmen Summers wrote in her blog post that System Center 2012 SP1 Update Rollup 2 for Virtual Machine Manager is now available as well.

And KB2826405 and KB2826392 fixes around 20 issues with Virtual Machine Manager:

Virtual Machine Manager Server (KB2826405) and Administration Console (KB2826392)

Issue 1
The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 operating system is missing from the Linux OS list.

Issue 2
A virtual machine cannot start after migration from Windows 7 to Windows 8 when the DiscardSavedState method is used.

Issue 3
A connection to the VMware virtual machine remote console session cannot be established.

Issue 4
Externally published VMNDs are filtered incorrectly.

Issue 5
When you remove a virtual switch extension property or edit a virtual switch extension manager connection string, a user-interface generated script also removes the HostGroups that are associated with VSEM.

Issue 6
UPPSet is not set on a physical network adapter when you add the network adapter to a team and when the network adapter is the first in the list of network adapters.

Issue 7
The default gateway is missing on a host virtual network adapter after you add a second physical network adapter to the logical switch.

Issue 8
Static IP pool that has the first address in a subnet fails for external network type.

Issue 9
VMM crashes during host refresher when VMM is unable to create a CimSession with the remote host.

Issue 10
Standard (legacy) virtual switch creation on Windows 8 hosts with management virtual network adapter does not preserve the IP properties of the physical network adapter.

Issue 11
The administration user interface crashes with a NullReferenceException error when you click Remediate on a host instead of a virtual network adapter.

Issue 12
The Virtual Machine Manager user interface displays a network adapter in a “Not Connected” state.

Issue 13
The Virtual Machine Manager stops responding with high CPU usage for five to ten minutes when you configure a VMND that has 2,000 network segments.

Issue 14
The host virtual network adapter property for a management adapter does not show port classification.

Issue 15
Live Migration fails at 26 percent when the network adapter is attached to an
isolated virtual machine network.

Issue 16
The Virtual Machine Manager Service crashes when a virtual machine that does not have a port profile is migrated to a cluster by using a logical switch that has a default port profile set.

Issue 17
Running Dynamic Optimizer on a cluster with incompatible host CPUs causes a Virtual Machine Manager Service crash.

Issue 18
The Host refresher crashes for any host that has the RemoteFX role enabled.

Issue 19
The minimum memory for dynamic memory greater than 32GB is a security risk.

Issue 20
The status of the network adapter is displayed as Not Connected in Virtual Machine Manager.

Thanks to Michel Luescher (Consultant Microsoft Switzerland) for the info.

Cannot remove Hyper-V Host from SCVMM

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

System Center Logo

Today I run in to the problem where I could not remove a Hyper-V Hosts from System Center Virtual Machine Manager. The Hyper-V host was reinstalled before he was removed from SCVMM and the host was showing has HOSTNAME (pending) in the SCVMM Management Console. If you did a right click to remove the host, the Remove option was greyed out.

But don’t worry Windows PowerShell came to the rescue, with the following command you can remove the Hyper-V host from Virtual Machine Manager.


Get-SCVMHost <HOSTNAME> | Remove-SCVMHost -force

Migrate Hyper-V Cluster to Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V via Cluster Migration Wizard

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2012 Logo

If you have already an existing Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster and you want to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 you have two options. The first one is by moving all virtual machines via System Center Virtual Machine Manager from the old Cluster into a new cluster. The second way to do it, is to use the Cluster Migration Wizard which is part of Windows Server 2012.

In my case I have two clusters one “old” Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster and my new Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V cluster. Both Clusters are fully configured and both have access to the same disks/LUNs. The disk and all the VMs are running on the old cluster.

On the new cluster you can start the Cluster Migration Wizard.

This will bring up the Cluster Migration Wizard. The wizard will ask you about the old cluster.

The Cluster Migration Wizard will scan the old cluster for CSVs and Cluster roles. You have to select the Cluster Shared Volume you want to migrate to the new cluster. Note: you can only migrate CSVs including all virtual machines running on this CSV and not just single virtual machines. If you want to migrate single virtual machines you could do a Hyper-V Export/Import or using System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Since the Cluster Migration Wizard detects the roles as Hyper-V virtual machines he also asks for the new Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

You get a quick summary with all the information what the Migration Wizard will do, and you can migrate all roles. This means the Migration Wizard will create all cluster roles on the new cluster but will not take the existing VMs offline the VMs at this point are still running on the old cluster. You also get a Failover Cluster Migration Report at the end.

This report also shows you what’s next:

All the clustered services and applications selected for migration were migrated successfully. You may now take the clustered services and applications offline in your old cluster. Also take offline Cluster Shared Volumes used by any migrated roles, as well as storage pools for virtual disks used by any migrated roles. Then these disks, Cluster Shared Volumes, and clustered services and applications can be brought online in your new cluster.

In the new cluster you can now see the roles which are all turned of because there are still running on the old cluster. And you can also see the CSV which is offline on the new cluster and online on the old cluster.

As already mentioned we had no downtime until now. Now you can go and shutdown all the virtual machines running on your old cluster and take the migrated CSV offline.

Take the CSV offline

On the new cluster bring the CSV online

Bring the virtual machines on the new cluster back online.

And this is more how you can migrate a cluster. Remember there are still some tasks left.

Upgrade the Integration Components of all the virtual machines to the newest version.
Convert all VHDs to the new VHDX format to dynamic disks.
I also recommend that you use CSV Block Cache

There is also a great video from Symon Perriman and Rob Hindman, a Program Manager on the Windows Server Clustering & High-Availability team, in which they explain how you can upgrade to Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.